Bulking Up

OK so I'm trying to get BIG. I've had more success with my current routine of 4 sets per exercise and 4 exercises per bodypart then most routines I've been told. I split like this... Monday - ChestTuesday - BackWednesday - Abs & CalvesThursday - ShouldersFriday - LegsSaturday - Arms

I've tried combining back and biceps and chest and triceps and so on but I never saw any gains in size just strength. Don't get me wrong I was glad I was gettin stronger but I'm going for size too. I finally got up to average weight for my height but seem to grow then stop and shrink even when I added more protein and carbs. Right now its hard to get perfect nutrition since I work 10-11 hours a day being a lifeguard.

I know y'all have probably seen this 100 times before and get the you need to eat more and lift more or more dedication but trust me I eat every 2 hours probably around 4500 or so calories a day give or take 500 so 4000-5000 cals a day and yes I do measure to make sure, I go to the gym everyday after work and, unless is a rare exception, dont even hangout with friends until I've gone to the gym.

Should I work out in the morning, in the evening mid day if I get a day off or split shift? Certain exercises that are great or some that are worthless and I shouldn't touch.

Also I'm a college student and want to try and conserve the spending. I spend a TON on food but may be spending it on worthless foods. I need to take food to work since I won't have a stove and sandwiches only go so far. So any advice there on what to get?

Hey MontanaGuy, I'm sure a bunch of other RJs will weigh in on this, too, but I can share what worked for me:

1. Lifting progressively heavier weight and really tiring out the muscles. I trained for years without results before I hired a personal trainer, and in six months with my current trainer I added three inches to my chest and two inches to my arms (and took three inches off of my waist). The most significant thing he's done is pushed me to do weights much heavier that I was used to. Systematically, of course, and carefully, but more weight, and it's made a huge difference.

2. Protein shakes before and after each lifting workout. Other than that, I haven't taken any special supplements and can't give you any advice in that direction.

Go to Costco and get a huge thing of Chicken breasts and cook them for the week. You can take them to school with you for your lunch or as a snack. And its a lot less expensive than cooking meal to meal.I am sure that there are far better people to give you advice. I can only speak from experience. What bulked me up was lifting heavy weights. Duh right? Well not really. I had to take a couple weeks to really figure out what theat meant. I was no where near lifting what I could, even though I thought I was pushing myself.

I am a big fan of the 5x5 program. Find what weight you can do for 5 sets of 5 reps. Usually its around 85% of your max. Try your sets with each body group. I am certain the first few times you'll fiund you can squeeze out more than five. That means you aren't lifting enough. Its a great way to assess how much you should be lifting and a great way to really break down those muscles.

Hmmm, a day devoted to abs and calves only is probably unnecessary. You are better off training those at the end of one or two of your other days each week and taking that day off completely since it looks like you are working out 6 days in a row. Not quite enough for recovery for most people. If you insist on doing 6 days, I would probably still do what I said above and instead split back into 2 days: one for upper back and one for lower, or split arms into bicep and tricep days. You can mix it up by one week doing 2 days of back and 1 of arms, and next week doing all your back on 1 day and splitting arms into 2 days.

A final suggestion is that you might want to rethink what you do each day. Assuming you stay with 6 days, I might resplit your routine like this:Monday-ChestTuesday-TricepsWednesday-Legs, calves, absThursday-BackFriday-BicepsSaturday-Shoulders

The reasoning for the above is that you can get the same benefits as the classic back & bi and chest & tri combos but are splitting it into 2 days. You are probably too tired, for example, after doing a full chest workout to really hit triceps hard, but doing it the next day gives you renewed strength plus since some tricep exercises (ie: dips) will also work chest, it gives your chest an additional amount of stress and pump by engaging them somewhat the very next day. Same principle for back followed by bi the next day. I would put legs right in the middle cause it essentially is like a day off from upper body training, and if you want to do 6 days in a row, it gives your upper body a break in the middle.